Hair styling appliance

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a hair styling appliance utilizing an inflammable gas as a source of heat for curling hair. A tank for the storage of the inflammable gas and a pressure regulator for adjusting the gas pressure are integrated together. By providing a gas inlet and gas outlet of the regulator so as to be oriented substantially at right angles to each other, the gas pressure is rendered constant to achieve a safe and stabilized combustion and, at the same time, the whole construction is miniaturized.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a portable hair styling appliance utilizing aninflammable gas as a source of heat for curling hair, which is effectiveto accomplish safe and stabilized combustion and which is reduced insize by miniaturizing the construction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Hitherto, in portable appliances necessitating a source of heat, most ofthem are primarily of electric type or of a type utilizing a fuel suchas gas or petroleum. However, the electric type using fuel isinconvenient in that it requires a cord whereas, in the cordless typesuch as gas or petroleum, it is difficult to achieve the supply of astabilized amount of fuel because the vapor pressure of the gas tends tovary remarkedly with temperature. For this reason, the use of aregulator can be contemplated, but it tends to lead to the increasedsize and also to the increased price for the appliance. Accordingly, nosufficient measures have been taken at present despite the fact that thepressure regulation is necessary in portable, compact appliances such asa hair styling appliance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, this invention is such that, by integrating a storage tankfor an inflammable gas together with a regulator for adjusting the gaspressure and also by providing a gas inlet and outlet so as to orientthem generally at right angles to each other, the gas pressure isrendered constant irrespective of change in temperature therebyachieving a safe and stabilized combustion and, at the same time, thewhole construction can be rendered compact even though the regulator isused.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the outer appearance of a gascylinder and a hair styling appliance according to one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the hair styling appliance of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an associated construction betweena tank and a pressure regulator;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of an essentialportion of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views, on an enlarged scale, of a burnerunit in a normal condition and an abnormal condition, respectively;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an essential portion of the burnerin sectional representation;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a safety part;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing the relationship between an igniterheater and catalysts;

FIG. 10 is an exploded view showing connector areas for the igniter;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the burner unit and a combustiondisplay area in sectional representation; and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a curler cap.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A hair styling appliance according to one embodiment of this inventionis shown in FIG. 1, and its basic construction comprises a body, aprincipal portion positioned at the tip thereof and a curler unit havinga burner therein for styling hair. The combustion control of the burneris carried out through a switch manipulating unit provided in the body.While FIG. 2 shows the construction thereof, a body casing 1constituting the body is covered by a body cover 2 and, within theinterior of the body defined by them, there is accommodated a tank 3 forthe storage of an inflammable gas and a pressure regulator 4 foradjusting the gas pressure. The pressure regulator 4 is fitted with anozzle support 5 having a nozzle 7 mounted thereon through a nozzleholder 6 so as to extend in parallel to the pressure regulator 4. Thenozzle 7 is in turn connected to a burner 9 through a piping 8. Theburner 9 has an air intake port 10 defined therein for the introductionof air thereinto from the outside. In the body casing 1, a switch knob12 mounted in a switch support 11 is provided in a manner biased in onedirection by a spring 13, thereby constituting a switch manipulatingunit. A switch terminal 14 movable to and fro in response to the forwardand backward movement of the switch knob 12 is also mounted on theswitch support 11. The switch terminal 14 has a contact area 15 at thetip thereof which faces a conductor area 17 on a switch board 16.

In the above described construction, an inflammable gas emerging fromthe tank 3 flows through the pressure regulator 4 and, after havingpassed in a pressure controlled manner through the nozzle support 5 andthe nozzle holder 6, is discharged from the nozzle 7. It is so designedthat the supply of the inflammable gas can be effected by moving theswitch support 11 forward to pull the nozzle 7 forward thereby allowinga valve to open. The inflammable gas emerging from the nozzle 7 thenenters the burner 9 through the piping 8 and is, after having drawn airthrough the air intake port 10 by the venturi effect, jetted in the formof a mixed gas of air and inflammable gas from the burner 9.

The tip of the burner 9 is located inside a heater holder 18 ofelectrically insulating material provided at one end of the bodycasing 1. Accordingly, the mixed gas flows through the inside of theheater holder 18 and then impinges upon a first catalyst 20 at the tipof the heater holder 18. The first catalyst 20 and a second catalyst 21are retained by a catalyst retainer 22 and a heater 19 is positionedsandwiched therebetween. The heater 19 is arranged so that, when theswitch support 11 is moved forward to pull the nozzle 7 to open andclose the inflammable gas and when the switch knob 12 is then depressed,the contact area 15 of the switch terminal 14 moves downward to contactthe conductor area 17 of the switch board 16 to establish a closedcircuit through connectors 23 and 26 and lead wire 27 whereby the mixedgas is heated by the heater 19 to a temperature at which it undergoes acatalytic combustion. The mixed gas is catalytically burned by the firstand second catalysts 20 and 21, the temperature of each of which hasbeen raised, and generates heat energies which in turn increase thetemperature of a curling pipe 24 positioned exteriorly thereof therebyincreasing the temperature of a brush 25 exteriorly of the pipe to avalue suitable for hair styling. Exhaust gases after the combustion aredischarged to the outside through a clearance 29 in the curler cap 28 ofthe curling pipe 24 and are guided towards the brush 25. It is to benoted that the curling pipe 24 is removably mounted on the body casing 1by means of screws or the like and constitutes a curler unit.

Within the body cover 2, there is arranged batteries 30 betweenterminals 31 and 32 and positioned in recesses defined in the tank 3 inparallel relation to the tank 3. The terminal 32 is connected to aheater circuit through a lead wire 33. A cap 36 is removably mounted onone end of the body cover 2 and is formed with a plug-in aperture 37 inalignment with an inflammable gas injection port 35. The cap 36 can beselectively removed from and mounted on the body cover 2 by compressinga gripping area 39 to manipulate a fitting area 38. The gas cylinder 40(FIG. 1) is used to inject the gas into the tank 3 with its nozzle 41inserted through the plug-in aperture 37. It is to be noted that theinflammable gas stored in the tank 3 may be an LP gas including butaneor propane as its main component. This storage in the form of liquidmakes it possible to minimize the capacity of the tank 3 and, since thevapor pressure is not so high relatively at a normal temperature, thedesign of the structure and the strength of the tank 3 can be carriedout with no difficulty. Moreover, it is preferred because of the readyavailability in respect of the ignitability, the stability and theamount of heat energies during the combustion.

And, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the tank 3 and the pressure regulator 4are made of resin and are integrally connected together by fusing at aweld area 45 while engagement indents 43 are engaged with positioningarea 44 for the engagement indents in a non-rotatable manner. Because ofthis arrangement, no piping between the tank 3 and the regulator 4 isrequired, thereby making it possible to minimize the size with theincreased reliability and strength of the sealed interface. In thisembodiment, the welding at the weld area 45 is carried out by the use ofan ultrasonic wave. Alternatively, it is possible to form the weld area45 by the utilization of the area of the engagement indents 43.Moreover, as is the case with the welding between the tank 3 and theregulator 4, the nozzle support 5 is also fusion bonded to the regulator4 by the use of an ultrasonic wave.

The gas outlet 47 is provided on a side face of the regulator 4 so as toface in a direction substantially at right angles to the gas inlet 46 ofthe regulator 4. This arrangement is for the purpose of minimizing thelongitudinal dimension so that the appliance can be rendered compactwhen the nozzle 7 is pulled by the switch support 11 (FIG. 2) through aring 42 (FIGS. 3 and 4).

The pressure regulation will now be described. The LP gas enters the gasinlet 46 in the gasified form through a cotton wick 48 after thepressure has been reduced by urethane pressure reducer 51 compressed byurethane pressure reducer retaining screw 50 sealed by an O-ring 49. Thepressure adjustment is such that a diaphragm 54, adapted to receive apressure from the front by the action of a pressure adjusting spring 53compressed by a pressure adjusting screw 52 and also to receive a gaspressure from the rear is displaced to and fro by the difference betweenthe gas pressure and the spring force whereby, when the gas pressure ishigh, a pressure adjusting pin 55 reduces a clearance between it and apressure adjusting packing 56 to reduce the gas pressure in the gasoutlet 47, whereas when the pressure in the gas inlet 46 is low, thediaphragm 54 is displaced rearwards and, therefore, the action reverseto that described above takes place to increase the gas pressure in thegas outlet 47, wherefore the gas pressure in the gas outlet 47 can bekept constant. A nozzle packing 57 interrupts and establishes the flowof the gas towards the nozzle 7, and the nozzle 7 is sealed by a nozzleO-ring 58 and applied with a force by a nozzle spring 59, non-removablyset in position by a nozzle spring retainer 60, in a direction necessaryto interrupt the flow of the gas. On one side adjacent the nozzlepacking 57, the nozzle 7 is formed with a gas passage 34 through whichthe inflammable gas flows into the nozzle 7.

FIG. 5 illustrates an interior structure of the burner 9. The gassupplied through the piping 8 flows into the burner 9 through an inletportion 62 in a burner inlet piece 61. Within the burner 9, there isfitted a ring 64 having a fine aperture 63 (10 to 200 μm in diameter wasfound appropriate) forming an orifice necessary to accelerate the flowof the gas in an amount necessary to achieve combustion and to draw theair through the air intake port 10 by the venturi effect. This fittingis carried out by threading a ring retainer 66, having a filter 65 ofsintered metal alloy built therein, to seal so that the gas can be sweptoff. In addition, within the burner inlet piece 61 sealed by a burnerpiece O-ring 67, a safety valve 69 having a T-shaped packing 68 at thetip thereof is positioned as shown in FIG. 5. The safety valve 69 is,while applied with a pressure by a safety valve spring 70, inserted in asafety metal part 71 having a gas passage 72 of a shape as shown in FIG.8, and the safety metal part 71 pressure-fitted into the burner inletpiece 61. This arrangement is for the purpose that, in the event that alarge amount of the gas flows to the burner unit with the combustiontemperature consequently increased abnormally by reason of theoccurrence of any accident, the heat thereof is transmitted to theburner 9 to melt the safety metal part 71, which is a metal of lowmelting point, so that the safety valve 9 can be pushed forward by thesafety valve spring 70 as shown in FIG. 6 thereby allowing the T-shapedpacking 68 to abut a ring retainer inlet 73 in the ring retainer 66 tointerrupt the flow of the gas from the burner 9, said ring retainerinlet 73 having a shape similar to a crater and capable of giving asealing effect.

A unit portion of the heater holder 18 is shown in FIG. 9 while astructure with the catalysts 20 and 21 removed is shown in FIG. 10. Thisunit is featured in that, since the life time of each of the heater 19and the catalysts 20 and 21 is approximately 100 hours, the connectors23 supporting the heater 19 and the connectors 26 secured in the bodycasing 1 are releasably engaged to each other in readiness for thereplacement and in that the heater holder 18 is provided with supportsteps 80 and 81 for holding the catalysts so that the heater 19 and thecatalysts 20 and 21 can be kept assuredly in predetermined contact witheach other to achieve an assured ignition. Within the heater holder 18,there is fitted a rectifier plate 74 for causing the flow of the gas tobe directed towards the surfaces of the catalysts 20 and 21.

FIG. 11 illustrates a structure for facilitating the confirmation of anignited condition and the detection of the combustion temperature. Thepreviously mentioned curler cap 28 is provided with a spiral biometal 76having a portion connected to the curler cap 28 and the other endsecured to a bimetal shaft 75 as shown. This bimetal 76 serves in such amanner that, when the heater 19 is heated to a red hot condition toinitiate combustion with the gas starting combustion at the catalysts 20and 21, the temperature thereof is immediately detected and the bimetal76 exerts a rotational force with which the bimetal shaft 75 is rotatedwith a rotary member 77 at the tip thereof consequently rotated so thatthe ignited condition can be acknowledged by the position of a displayindicia 82 thereof and the fact that the heater 19 need not be suppliedwith an electric current can be acknowledged for the ultimate purpose ofsaving the life time of the heater 19 and that of the batteries 30(FIGS. 2 and 3).

In addition, since the angle of rotation varies depending on thecombustion temperature, the combustion temperature at a particular timecan also be ascertained. Although the outer appearance of the curler cap28 is shown in FIG. 12, the exhaust gases are adapted to flow throughthe clearance 29. Moreover, in order for the exhaust gases to escapedownwards, a skirt 78 is so provided to avoid a danger due to theforward flow of the exhaust gases. Furthermore, the water vapor of theexhaust gases is adapted to be guided by the skirt 78 towards the brush25 (FIG. 1) and then towards the hair to facilitate the hair styling.

In addition, in this embodiment, the body cover 2 is, as shown in FIG.1, provided with a slit 79 so that the tank 3 (FIG. 2) can be viewedfrom the outside to check the liquidized gas remaining in the tank 3.Moreover, by providing this slit 79 at two locations diagonal with eachother, light is allowed to pass so that the amount of the liquidized gasremaining in the tank 3 can more easily be checked.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the tank 3 has generally cylindricalrecesses at its upper portion for accommodating batteries 30 shown bythe chain lines. Therefore, the various elements can be accommodatedwithin the cylindrical body, thereby rendering it compact.

As hereinbefore described, the hair styling appliance of this inventionhas its entire structure miniaturized and rendered compact even thoughthe pressure regulator is used, because use is made of the pressureregulator for adjusting the gas pressure at a constant valueirrespective of change in temperature so that safe and steady combustioncan be attained and because the tank for the storage of the inflammablegas and the pressure regulator are integrated together with the gasoutlet arranged substantially at right angles to the gas inlet.

We claim:
 1. A hair styling appliance which comprises:a hollow bodyhaving a battery chamber defined therein for replaceably accommodatingat least one battery; a tank housed within the body for accommodatingliquefied inflammable gas; a pressure regulator housed within the bodyand having a gas inlet and a gas outlet, said pressure regulator beingpositioned in abutting relation to the tank with the gas inlet in fluidconnection with the interior of the tank; a nozzle positioned within thebody in fluid connection with the gas outlet, said pressure regulatorbeing operable to regulate the pressure of the inflammable gas flowingtherethrough towards the nozzle from the tank; a burner having a gassupply port and a gas discharge port and carried by the body at one endthereof with the gas supply port and the gas discharge port positionedinside and outside the body, respectively, said gas supply port beingcommunicated with the tank through the nozzle and the pressureregulator; a curling unit having one end connected to the body with thegas discharge port of the burner positioned inside said curling unit,said curling unit also having a brush provided exteriorly thereof; ameans for igniting the inflammable gas when energized by the supply ofpower from the battery; at least one catalyst element positioned withinthe curling unit adjacent the igniting means; a manipulable switchassembly movable between first and second positions, said switchassembly, when in the first position completing not only an electriccircuit between the battery and the igniting means, but also a fluidcircuit between the nozzle and the burner, whereby the inflammable gasdischarged from the discharge port of the burner can be ignited to heatthe curling unit for hair styling, and said switch assembly, when in thesecond position, closing both of said electric circuit and said fluidcircuit.
 2. A hair styling appliance as defined in claim 1, wherein thetank and the regulator are made of resin and are fusion-bonded togetherafter having been positioned in end-to-end abutting relation with eachother by means of engagement indents.
 3. A hair styling appliance asdefined in claim 1, wherein the nozzle is moved to supply theinflammable gas to the nozzle by the operation of said manipulableswitch assembly in the body.
 4. A hair styling appliance as defined inclaim 1, wherein the igniting means is a heater.
 5. A hair stylingappliance as defined in claim 1, further comprising: connector means forsupporting said burner being coupled to the body.
 6. A hair stylingappliance as defined in claim 1, wherein the curling unit is providedtherein with a bimetal deformable under the influence of combustionheat, said bimetal being provided with a means for visually displayingto the outside the deformation of the bimetal.
 7. A hair stylingappliance as defined in claim 1, wherein the curling unit is providedwith means for guiding combustion exhaust gases towards the brush.
 8. Ahair styling appliance as defined in claim 1, wherein the at least onebattery is accommodated in the battery chamber of the body so as toextend in parallel relation to the longitudinal axis of the body.
 9. Ahair styling appliance as defined in claim 1, wherein the body isprovided with at least one slit through which the amount of the gas inthe tank can be checked.